This coming of age novel was absolutely beautiful and gripping. Set during the month of Ramadan, the older brother returns home from prison. This has tons of drama and suspense. Highly, highly recommend.

This was such a great read, and for a debut I was blown away, Special thanks to the author & publisher for my advanced copy. Will re-read this book and recommend it to friends!

This was really good way better than I expected!!!! I’ll post my full review soon. Special thanks to the author & publisher for my advanced copy.

I can't believe this is a debut. 

This coming of age story has a perfect balance of all the complicated feelings and situations that we can find ourselves in at that age. The book is honest, and impossible to put down. It also feels like something I've never read before while feeling so familiar, a balance that is hard to find.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Between Two Moons is Aisha Abdel Gawad's stirring debut, focusing on an Arab American family in Bay Ridge, NYC. When Amira's long lost brother returns from prison, her family is forced to confront past histories they had put away. Adding to the drama of the piece is the ever present gaze of American society, which views Muslim folk as violent and uncontrolled. What is most successful about this piece is the way we see Amira's brother, Sami, find peace in an unjust system. What bothered me the most is Amira's passivity to go along with her sister, to seek male approval from her crush, to appease her parents. I wish Amira embraced herself more, like Lina, and leaned into her inner strength. Overall, Gawande paints an accurate portrayal of what it means to grow up Muslim American today.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy. I only finished reading the book to see if any of the characters repent, but the sinning just kept getting worse. Initially I enjoyed the descriptions of Islamic beliefs and Quran, but then the author started insulting well-respected and revered women in Islamic history, so I can’t recommend this book. Even if I could overlook and see some kind of symbolism there, the sex, drugs, alcohol, rape, and profanity all stop me from recommending this book.

Sometimes amidst the intense thrillers, catastrophe-laden historical fictions, and steamy romance novels, I need to mix in an intimate, emotional, family-driven story. If you're looking for one of these, Between Two Moons is a wonderful choice. I loved it.

It's 2014, and the month of Ramadan has started for the Muslim community in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge section of New York City. Amira, the sensitive sibling of the Emam family, is "between two moons." One moon is Lina, her vibrant yet careless twin sister who she accompanies on adventures, which put both girls at risk. The second moon is Sammi, the elusive older brother who's just been released from prison early and is as cryptic and misunderstood as ever. As Amira navigates this time before heading to college, we readers get an up-close look at not only this particular moment in Amira's life, but also the lives of Muslims as they navigate the post-9/11 world and the increased hate and persecution endured by Muslim-Americans.

While there are some "big" moments on this story, it's the quiet moments--love shown between the sisters, the moments of family time enjoyed by the Emam family, and Amira's struggle to balance out her yearning for connection with the realities of the world she lives in--that really stand out. Gawad's prose (for a debut!) is heartfelt, descriptive, and resonant. I love how she expertly captures this specific moment in time.

If you overdo it on beach reads and need a engrossing, emotional read, give this one a try. It's a gem.

One of Abdel Gawad's many talents as a writer is her ability to navigate a myriad of tensions, each pulling Amira in different directions; Abdel Gawad manages to make even the most specific of those conflicts feel universal. Midway through the novel, Amira puts it simply: "There were are lives here in Bay Ridge, where we were Arabs, Muslims, daughters. And then there were our other lives, out there, away from all this." This is perhaps the central pull of the novel: Amira's growing understanding that try as she might to control others' perception of her (or lack thereof--she longs to be "unrecognizable, untrackable, untraceable"), she is ultimately at the mercy of the world around her, which has strict ideas of who and what she can possibly be. Abdel Gawad follows that tension with a deft hand, scaling her focus through a telescopic narrative voice that takes us outside of Amira's head just often enough for us to see how Amira's story is just one piece in a larger puzzle. The constant scrutiny Amira feels as a young woman (the grabbing hands the leering eyes of older men, the teasing voices of her classmates, the disapproving clucks of older women assessing her dress and comportment) is compounded by the relentless surveillance state, which hyperfocuses on Arab Americans. Amira's vague sense that "they" are watching her ("Who do you think 'they' are,?" Sami asks, to her embarrassment.) is made manifest by police with endless questions, a redacted file of information on Bay Ridge, and random acts of senseless violence committed against her community with apparent impunity. Amira's shaky grasp on the larger political scene contrasts with Sami's world-weariness and increasing desperation, as he navigates a system that he (correctly) suspects is merely a series of traps masquerading as justice. "They want to prove that we are what they say we are," he says, and it's difficult to disagree with his assessment.

"In that moment on the couch— and that whole summer, in fact—I was strung up between two moons."

I'm not exactly sure why I haven't seen Between Two Moons here at all but it needs to be and deserves to be. 

Summary
Aisha Abdel Gawad's debut novel is a coming-of-age story about two teenage girls. They're twins living in Brooklyn. Their older brother is getting out of prison. Their parents are immigrants from Egypt. And the book's title, "Between Two Moons," refers to the time period when the book is set. The entire novel takes place during one month of Ramadan.

This book had everything I love in a book. It's looking like this will be my favorite of the month. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to @netgalley for this free copy and thank you to @prhaudio - I preferred the audio! Between Two Moons is out now!
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What a fantastic debut. I was captured by the prose instantly and the Bay Ridge community came through so clearly. Sprawling family sagas are my absolute favorite kind of book, and this title will definitely be added to my favorites list. The only slight critique I have is that the chapters were so long with not enough page breaks, which made it harder to find a good place to pause if I didn’t have enough time to read to the next chapter. 

Thank you to the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for this review.

The story opens up just as Ramadan begins and twins Amira and Lina graduate high school. Their summer plans change when their brother is suddenly released from prison on good behavior and he returns home to live with them. Amira is anticipating going to college and trying to break out of her shell a bit while Lina is aiming for a modeling career and ends up in a few precarious and dangerous situations. Their are unused to living with their brother and everyone is trying to find their footing again. Overall, a richly detailed Bay Ridge summer setting focused on the Arab American community and the strains the community feels from being constantly surveilled. The family dynamics were very interesting with how everyone saw their role, as well as the differences between generations.

Loved the rich setting, the family dynamics… I can’t figure out why no one is talking about this book. Perfect coming of age without the annoying teen angst.

An effective novel about Arab Americans and growing up in the age of surveillance. I could feel the need to look over one’s shoulder esp with the brothers storyline. I was very engaged in the family overall, and the twins connection. Not a fan of age gap relationships but I do like how the author showed the power dynamics btw the older men and younger female MCs.

There’s so much to say about Between Two Moons! What a lovely read, yet heartbreaking. I absolutely loved Amira and Lina, but most importantly their bond as twins. Amira, the caretaker and responsible one in the family. Lina, more carefree and wild. Both sisters are yearning for love but in different ways. I find it interesting the way the author chooses different POVs to write this novel. It was strange at first going from Amira to another POV, but eventually I was accustomed to it, even looking forward to it. I’m upset by the ending. I had to read it multiple times trying to piece together what happened to Sami. I loved that the story took place during the Holy month of Ramadan. Readers are on this journey with Amira who does not feel connected to her religion, though she’s trying. I felt connected to Lina throughout the story because she’s like many young girls grappling with religion and wanting to be loved. Lina struggled out loud and Amira struggled silently. At the end though, readers know that Amira and Lina got each other, always. Beautifully written story.

A coming of age tale with family and community drama? I’m just about always interested in one of those, so the description for Aisha Abdel Gawad’s new novel Between Two Moons caught my attention. Seeing how being part of a community under excess scrutiny impacts the everyday lives and overall outlook of its members (especially its young people), Between Two Moons provokes a lot of questions and largely leaves the answers up to the reader. At the same time, it highlights how certain family dynamics transcend time, place, and culture – sibling rivalries, parental concern, and the love that underpins it all. 

Amira is about to graduate high school and she plans to use the summer to truly find herself, to become the person she wants to be in college. She feels the distance growing between her and her twin sister, Lina and wants to close some of that gap even as she wants to distinguish herself beyond just being the “good” or “well-behaved” twin. But before Amira can really even start, a wrench is thrown into her plans with her brother’s early release from prison. He’s been gone for six years and what she remembers of having him home – of what worrying about him did to their parents, of how his presence impacted the relationship she had with her sister – isn’t something she’s ready to see repeated and Lina isn’t sure what to make of him now either. Beyond their household, Sami’s return ripples through their community, bouncing off other changes and incidents as the holy month of Ramadan unfolds. 

One of my favorite elements of Between Two Moons is the way that Abdel Gawad sets up pairings for both structural and thematic resonance within the novel. I don’t want to get into the pairing that bookends the novel for spoiler reasons, but the pairings create a balance (as with Amira and Lina in their status as twins) which is then purposely upset by the addition of something or someone, such as when Sami is reintroduced to the family and Amira must find a new balance as she’s feels a different pull toward each of her siblings. The young man Amira meets draws parallels between Sami’s situation and tries to equate their situations, tries to balance the scales between them. But as she learns more information about Faraj, that balance shifts and the parallels between their two brothers weaken and fall apart. There’s a pivotal moment where their mother reaches out to Lina and relates to her by drawing a parallel between how their experiences as teenagers contain some key similarities, creating a balance in their mother-daughter relationship that resonates… but then the realities of the modern world and social media upset that balance once again. 

Though I’m a fan of an ambiguous ending and thoroughly appreciated the ambiguity of the one in Between Two Moons, there were a number of other elements and plot threads that I kind of wish were a little more clearly drawn. Actually, it’s more likely a lack of knowledge and familiarity on my part with Islam and Muslim culture. A desire to learn more about both is part of what drew me to this novel but I’m probably not picking up on certain allusions that would be crystal clear to someone with a greater grasp on them coming into the story. Of course, even if my vision on certain plot threads and elements might be a little fuzzy, I can still see and appreciate the way Abdel Gawad deftly captures the tension between this Muslim community of Bay Ridge and those outside it. The exact year the story takes place isn’t explicitly given but it’s clearly post-9/11, likely by at least a decade based on the technologies referenced, but the attitudes of the larger community towards Bay Ridge and its diverse Muslim population are palpably strained. Suspicion permeates both sides of that tension with ignorance and resentment often at the heart of it. And it’s the kind of tension that doesn’t rise until it boils over in a big way, but rather simmers, sustaining and feeding itself. It’s the kind of tension that, unfortunately, remains all too common today. Novels like Between Two Moons help illuminate and enlighten, calling attention to the strain and weakening it by inspiring empathy, understanding, and familiarity.

It's been wonderful to see the variety of stories being written about the Arab-American experience that isn't the same old thing.  In this novel, twins Lina and Amira are as different as can be but share an unbreakable sisterly bond.  The story opens at the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest of times for Muslims.  The girls are not your typical Muslim girls as Lina is wild and Amira is reserved and they wander freely through their Brooklyn neighborhood, frequenting the masjid and the bars.  And then the older brother, Sami, returns from prison and their life instantly changes.  Is he still the angry violent brother who scared them or has he changed?  As the girls and the neighborhood are in an uproar over the arrest of a local merchant, the girls find them swept up in a month of questionable choices, searching for their identity and connecting with their family in this eye-opening novel about the realities of Arab life in America.

I loved the characters in the novel.  they were flawed, complicated and messy.  They weren't the stereotypical portrayal of Arab Muslims.  I thought it was clever that the story lasted the duration of the month of Ramadan.  IT's difficult being an immigrant in the United States and this story shows yet another perspective of that experience in modern day with Muslims who often feel as though they are unfairly targeted.  But mostly, this is a coming of age story about sisterhood and family and the power of community.

Thank you to Doubleday Books for an early copy of this novel.

Terrific. Amira, the primary narrator, and her twin Lina see their world turned sideways when their brother Sami is released early from prison to come home to Bay Ridge just in time for Ramadan.  Amira, the observant twin, struggles with his return- this was meant to be her last fun summer before college and Sami has always been difficult- but she struggles even more with Lina, who is drinking and chasing after Andres.   Amira meets Faraj at a protest after a local merchant is arrested in a raid by law enforcement- you'll wonder whether he's a good guy or whether he wants something else.  This is very much a slice of life coming of age story of a Muslim woman and her family- her father, a butcher, her mother who holds it all together, Lina who is running wild and Sami who is struggling.  It's atmospheric, it's emotional, it's educational - it's everything.  Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.  A great read.

I found this to be a very compelling read, and a wonderful first novel from an author I will look forward to reading again.  The Brooklyn setting is perfectly conveyed and is a major strength of the book.  Each of the main characters captivated me and made me anxious to see how their stories would play out.  Highly recommended for those who enjoy immigrant stories, coming of age novels and works that explore timely issues.

This coming of age story spans one Ramadan where the main character, her twin sister, and her older brother have life-altering experiences that shape who they become. The author dropped us right into Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and straight into the daily life of the Muslim community there. While the details around religion and culture may not be familiar to the reader, the wild energy fluctuations amongst the teenagers was very relatable. One thing I was not clear on was when exactly this story took place. I had assumed it was in the present based on some of the music mentioned, but then there'd be something else that made it seem as if it took place a decade earlier. There was a feeling to the book that seemed almost detached from real time, and I'm curious if that was on purpose or just my own impression.